Thursday, 22 June 2017

Alex G (Alex Giannascoli - not to be confused with singer/songwriter Alex G) just released Beach Music... his seventh full-length album, and his first Domino release. He’s obviously not used to recording in a studio, saying, “I was
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First Avenue’s website lists (Sandy) Alex G as headliner. Alex G’s eight album Rocket is available now on Domino. We last saw him in August 2016 and noted, “The evening’s festivities commenced with a 45-minute set by Alex G. Most of the song titles in his catchy indie catalog consist of only one word.”

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) is touring in support of their forthcoming record Soft Sounds From Another Planet (due for release July 14th via Dead Oceans Records).

We caught the band accidentally with Slowdive in May 2017 and discovered why they had a deep relationship with local band Strange Relations.

Brooklyn indie rock quartet Cende to open... the band debut album is called #1 Hit Single (Double Double Whammy).

New York City’s MisterWivesis back on tour to support their sophomore record Connect The Dots(Republic Records/Photo Finish).

The Greeting Committee and Bell The Band to open.
The latter Bell The Band (vocalist / multi-instrumentalist Caitlin Marie Bell, drummer Jared Saltiel, upright bassist Gab Bowler, and guitarist Harper James) will experience their first-ever U.S. tour.

There is a hidden Johnny Cash song ("Houston Hash") at the end of the EP.
It is a really fun song about a truck driver who does whatever it takes to get home for some Houston Hash. The coolest part is the recipe that's mentioned in the song: ....

Other shows in the area:

06/27/2017 Joseph Arthur is performing Redemption’s Son in its entirety on Tuesday at the Turf Club. Allison Pierce (half of The Pierces) will open the show. Pierce’s solo album Year Of The Rabbit is available now.
7pm, $15.

06/27/2017 Jack and Sharon Osbourne are big fans of Otep... who is performing at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in St Paul this Tuesday. No opening band listed as of this writing.
7pm, $20.

06/28/2017 Bluegrassy The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is headlining the Turf Club on Wednesday. They aren’t really a big band... kind of like there are no women in Bare Naked Ladies.
Dumpy Jug Bumpers to open.
7:30pm, $12.

06/29/2017 If you love Johnny Cash, check out Cash’d Out (a tribute band consisting of Douglas Benson vocals, Kevin Manuel guitar, George Bernardo drums, and Stephen Rey bass) at the Turf Club on Thursday.
John David & the Jerks to open.
7pm, $13.

06/30/2017 The Cedar Cultural Center is hosting a few events on this Friday. At 11am, there is a free show at the Plaza featuring Harbi and Rahmo Rose Band. Later in the evening, experience Alma Afrobeat Ensemble with Harbi as opener.
11am/7pm, FREE/$15.

The first non-Minnesota band the play the newly opened Palace Theatre in St Paul will be Phantogram.
We got a sneak peek at the venue in Dec 2016 and wrote, “Booked and operated by a collaboration of First Avenue and Jam Productions, the venue expects to host around fifty events annually, and will be used during the day by nearby McNally Smith College of Music as a learning tool for students to know box office, staging, and venue operations.”

Given that the Palace is nearly double the size of First Avenue, it would make sense that bands that consistently selling out First Avenue would turn to the Palace. With all the hype of the new venue, Phantogram also sold out the Sunday show.

Phantogram will also be bringing shoegaze alternative The Veldt on tour with them for a brief six-exclusive U.S. Mid West cities before the duo departs for their European tour. Expect Phantogram to return their appearances at Coachella.

We wrote about Eisley in 2007 (10 years ago): “...when I first heard a clip of "Sea King", I was hooked. I immediately stopped what I was doing and turned my attention to the tube and watched the segment on Eisley. I loved the fantasy, other-world sound of it and reminds me of fantasy books.”

The family band is back in town, this time headlining the 7th Street Entry in support of their latest album I'm Only Dreaming (Equal Vision Records).

Los Angeles garage-rock quartet Allah-Las (Singer Pedrum Siadatian on lead guitar, Miles Michaud on rhythm guitar, Matthew Correia on drums, and Spencer Dunham on bass) will be back in town at the Triple Rock Social Club next Tuesday. Their new album Calico Review is available now.

Australia’s The Babe Rainbow will be guest on most of Allah-Las’ North American tour.

Country singer/songwriter Nikki Lane is back in Minneapolis at the Turf Club this Sunday. The venue was an upgrade from the Fine Line Music Café, which was done to accommodate all
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Other shows in the area:

03/12/2017 Lancaster’s Carousel Kings will be headlining The Garage in Burnsville, in support of Charm City. Abandoned By Bears and Bad Case Of Big Mouth to open.

03/12/2017 The Griswolds returns to town at Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis.

03/12/2017 Local favorites Hippo Campus is headlining a sold-out show at First Avenue.

03/12/2017 Panic! At The Disco is headlining Xcel Energy Center, bringing with them Misterwives and Saint Motel .

03/13/2017 Texas’ Power Trip will be stopping by the Triple Rock Social Club, touring in support of their new sophomore Nightmare Logic (Southern Lord). Iron Reagan to open.

03/14/2017 Nashville’s Nikki Lane will be at Turf Club in St Paul with Brent Cobb. Lane’s new album Highway Queen is out now on New West Records. The show is sold out. Why do I start singing “Penny Lane” whenever I see the name Nikki Lane?

03/14/2017 Jesca Hoop (not Jessica Hoop) will be at the Cedar Cultural Center next Tuesday.
Her latest album Memories Are Now is out now.
Lowland Hum will open.

NYC indie-pop-soul band Misterwives got things started with a brief but energetic set; petite singer Mandy Lee (who has also sang with Boyce Avenue) has pipes at least twice her size
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Alternative pop quintet MisterWives recently stopped by First Avenue, as part of their "Scrapbook Tour".

Misterwives is an indie pop band from New York that, although they only have one full length album out, has taken the indie scene by storm. Their LP, titled Our Own House, was released in February of this year and they seem to have been touring virtually nonstop since then. In addition to Our Own House, Misterwives have an EP that was released in January of last year entitled Reflections. Even though they didn't have much material to choose from, Misterwives put on a great show last night.

I can't deny that the feeling in the air was electric during the hour long set. Although it was short, it was full of energy and fun. Misterwives is one of those bands that when you see them live, you can't help but smile. It didn't matter that I did not enjoy the music all that much what matters is I enjoyed the energy they brought to the table.

The music was a bit too cutesy and too clean. That being said, singer Mandy Lee has an absolutely amazing voice. It was powerful and in tune which has proved to be tough for other bands in the genre that I have seen. It seems like you typically have to choose if you want a good voice or a lot of energy from these female fronted bands but Lee proves that that's not a choice you necessarily need to make when it comes to Misterwives. She was keeping up vocally while running around stage and giving you something to watch. I don't know that there was one point in her set that she wasn't moving. Even during the acoustic performance of their song "Coffins", Lee sat on the edge of the stage was swaying back and forth and keeping the crowd involved.

Cruisr and Waters opened the show. Both bands were great. Their music sounded good and poppy and it got the crowd warmed up for Misterwives. Unfortunately, these bands had extremely short sets. I would love to see both of them in the future with longer sets. There's something there that had me intrigued, I just couldn't tell you what.

Sydney's Little May is an all-girls band: Annie Hamilton, Liz Drummond and Hannah Field. In only a year, the trio managed to stream over 2 million Soundcloud plays, 3 million Spotify streams, and highly endorsed by Triple J, BBC Radio 1, and Mojo Magazine... the latter declaring "The Australian intricate, dramatic harmonic pop proves appropriately ornate on this soaring yet engagingly earthy first album".

The band's first US tour starts in a few days (October 20th) and will take them to Minneapolis next Tuesday.

No opening band listed, but that will change as we get closer to the date.

New York alternative pop quintet MisterWives will be in town as part of their "Scrapbook Tour".

The band recently earned their first RIAA gold plaque for the hit single “Reflections,” which accumulated over 500,000 digital downloads and streams since its release last year.

As one of 2015’s breakout acts (who we previously wrote about in 2013), they landed at #1 on Billboard’s Emerging Artist Chart and even garnered an “Artist to Watch” nomination at the mtvU Woodie Awards.

The Scrapbook Tour will also feature Waters and Cruisr. The former opened up for Matt & Kim earlier in May 2015.

Please note: This all-ages show will likely start at 6pm, with doors opening at 5pm.

Boston's Tall Heights is Tim Harrington and Paul Wright. The duo is currently touring in support of their new EP Holding On, Holding Out.

The tour will take them to November, where they meet up with Shook Twins.

The two are no strangers to the harsh touring grind, having played over 300 shows between 2013 and 2014, opening up for such established acts as The Wood Brothers, Wild Child, Laura Marling and Ben Sollee.

NOTE: Oddly enough the Aster Café website also lists 10/22 as a Tall Heights show... but I'm assuming that is an error as they're listed to play Goshen, Indiana that same evening.

Sweden's indiepop group, The Royal Concept, is on tour in the USA with The Wombats. Since we're quite fond of these marsupials, you know that I'll definitely want to check out these guys at the Triple Rock Social Club on .…

Three of Clubs isn’t considered a great card in poker or in blackjack,

But, in terms of indie-pop/rock, the Three of Clubs Fall Tour is much closer to a winning hand. The tour has brought together Sweden’s The Royal Concept, Brooklyn’s American Authors and NYC’s Misterwives; bands that each foreshadowed bigger things ahead, in a Sunday night performance at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis.

NYC indie-pop-soul band Misterwives got things started with a brief but energetic set; petite singer Mandy Lee (who has also sang with Boyce Avenue) has pipes at least twice her size, as showcased on tracks like ‘Coffins’ and the dancy ‘Kings and Queens’, both from their Revolutions EP. A slower ‘Lullaby’ is making radio waves currently and they threw in a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’, assumedly, for the fun of it.

THE ROYAL CONCEPT

Next up was the band we assumed was headlining- Swedish quartet, The Royal Concept, who we liked when they opened for UK’s The Wombats at this same venue last year. The just-released Royal EP (Lava/Universal/Republic) follows hot on the heels of their self-titled EP, with full-length Goldrushed still only available as a Swedish import, though that may change in 2014.

David Larson (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard), Filip Bekic (guitar), Robert Magnus (bass), and Frans Povel (drums) got the crowd moving immediately with the title track to their full-length, then into ‘Radio’ and ‘World on Fire’ (with Larson on vocoder) from the new EP. Comparisons have been made to a “Phoenix+Strokes sound”, but careful listening shows the band to be deeper than that, with charming electro-pop songs that bring warmth into any cold night and a live energy that is all their own.

A Daft Punk cover, ‘Digital Love’ was well received, though it was unsure how many in the young crowd recognized it as such, and the 1-2 punch of ‘D-D-Dance’ and ‘Gimme Twice’ from their first EP, struck the crowd to “dance until you get it right” as the lyrics to the former were heard.

Very fitting that the last song played, the cheery ‘On Our Way’, was about living for today and letting go of any inhibitions. If this and their Wombats opening slot were any indication, this is a band to watch “on their way.”

Brooklyn-based American Authors closed the night with their first area headlining show, perhaps the result of single ‘Best Day of My Life’ getting so much recent airplay, as well as being featured in Lowe’s and World Series commercials. Or the fact that lead singer Zachary Barnett actually grew up locally and went to high school here, before meeting his fellow bandmates at Berklee College in Boston.

Changing their name from The Blue Pages in 2012 (into something actually more ubiquitous to Google), the band has released a 5-track self-titled EP (Mercury Records), with full-length expected in March 2014.

In addition to Barnett, James Shelley (guitar/ banjo), Matt Sanchez (drums), and Dave Rublin (bass) kept the positive energy level high; never standing still, and feeding off the energy of an excited crowd. Initial hit ‘Believer’ had the faithful huddled near the front of the stage mouthing every word, with Barnett asking afterwards, “How many of you did I go to high school with?”, knowing it wasn’t just friends and family that have been made aware of their music.

‘Trouble’ started slow and ballad-like, then morphed, with Sanchez’ booming drumbeats and Shelley’s banjo, into an anthemic, foot-stomping rouser. The band followed this with a surprising cover of Ellie Goulding’s ‘Lights’ which also started quieter, but transformed into a big sound version of the electro-based original.

American Authors aspires to a sound bigger

Barnett constantly incited the crowd into singing and clapping along, entering the middle of the floor towards the end of the set. A catchy new number, ‘Ghost’ was followed by the driving ‘Hit It!’, that had Barnett sounding somewhat like Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath with its rapid-fire lyrics.

Set finale was predictably ‘Best Day of My Life’ with the crowd involved in the call-and-response of the chorus, which had them sounding louder than the band itself and pogoing in place.

Like Imagine Dragons, American Authors aspires to a sound bigger than the small clubs they are currently playing; though it remains to be seen if they can achieve that same level of success, Sunday’s performance was a positive sign in that direction.

Overall, Three of Clubs is a winning hand, and a fall tour worth catching; for the fun of it all and to say in a few years, that you saw one or more of these bands when they were still playing to small crowds.